MICKEY SWINGERHEAD AND THE EARTHGIRLS |
SHOW and ALBUM REVIEWS from the ORIGINAL 1996
PRODUCTION
Written by Michael Andrew
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'Swinger' a Star
Playwrights face a daunting task in the U.S. Almost none earn their living by writing plays, and there are few venues for original works. And there are even fewer original musicals. Indeed, the tremendous production costs of musicals keep most theatres from mounting anything but retreads. Orlando, then, is especially blessed with two original musicals currently on local stages. The Civic Theatre Production, "Mickey Swingerhead & The Earthgirls" by Michael Andrew, is brilliant. The lyrics are standard, the plot negligible, but in an unpretentious revue the focus is on the skills of the composer, and here they are impressive. "Mickey" is something like Harry Connick, Jr. meets Tom Corbett and the Space Cadets. Set in a 1950s version of the distant future, where swing music has been banned by the jazz police. Mickey Swingerhead holds outlaw concerts at his space station, aptly named the Bachelor Pad. Aided in his quest to keep swing music alive by computer geek Cosmo Kelp, Mickey is pursued by Marvin Welk, servant of the evil Emperor Squarehead. Will Mickey triumph? Of course, but not without first serving up an evening of music and dance. The production values are extremely high. Director Alan Bruun keeps the pace and choreography flowing. The set is a magnificent homage to the neon, aerodynamic vision of the '50s. Glow-in-the-dark planets hover throughout the space, a space battle is shown with overhead flying models, and much of the action takes place on a giant video screen stage center. Indeed, some of the best performances take place off stage. Tom Whateley is hysterical as geek Kelp. And Bill Shafer's cameo as the evil emperor shows just how contorted the human face can get. The voices in this production are all professional, and despite a few acoustical glitches on opening night, the music had the audience "snapping on two and four," just as Mickey likes it. If
you've ever secretly yearned to be a member of the Rat Pack, or if you
simply enjoy great musical entertainment "Mickey" has what it takes
to make you a swinger. |
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Orlando
Sentinel Theatre review Musical is a light look at a bleak future - Musical rebel keeps swinging in a grim future Thanks to Mickey Swingerhead, the beat goes on in a society that has tried to stop the music. A long, long time from now in a galaxy far, far away, government control has grown so far-reaching that snapping your fingers could land you in jail. Finger snapping is the sign of someone who could be having fun, say the Jazz Police in Michael Andrew's hilarious, witty new musical now on stage at the Civic Theatre of Central Florida. Fun is not allowed in this bleak age when only government approved music can be played. Mickey Swingerhead and the Earthgirls, directed with elan by Alan Bruun, whisks us forward into this dull and dreary age by looking backward in time for its influences. Andrew combines the wacky ambiance of really bad '50s science fiction movies with the music in the style of the swinging "hi-fi" bands of the same era. The multitalented Andrew stars in the title role, and he wrote the play and all the songs except Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" and Sammy Cahn's "Imagination." His original music is bright and breezy, taking clichés from '50s and '60s music and injecting an amusing freshness. The set, designed with humor and great imagination by James F. Sturgill, is right out of the Saturday matinee serials. It has miniature spaceships whizzing erratically across the sky on a wire, hundreds of heavenly bodies suspended from the ceiling, a spaceship command center in midstage and a huge video screen on the rear wall upon which messages from the Emperor are received. The Bachelor Pad is a rogue space station and headquarters to Mickey Swingerhead, who is single-handedly defending the right to play swinging music in this oppressive era There he and his backup group, the Earthgirls, and his oh-too-cool band perform illicit music for an eager audience tired of government hogwash. It is obvious that Andrew has great affection for the musical stylings of the "hi-fi" bands for those wonderfully dreadful science fiction films. He has written a parody that is extremely witty, yet never mean spirited. In the songs, he pays homage to those bands and singers. He ends one number, "Hey Baby, I'm Home," with "Look out, old Mickey is back," in a perfectly rendered takeoff on Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife". Andrew is a bandleader and lead singer. In addition he plays a multitude of instruments, including keyboard, accordion, harmonica and clarinet. His performance as Mickey is as smooth as a velvet fog. All prospective lounge lizards should turns green with envy. In the number "My Bachelor Pad" he sings "it's posh, it's plaid, it's my bachelor pad," while dressed in a smoking jacket and sitting on a futuristically designed plaid loveseat, snapping his fingers on the second and fourth beat. The excellent band is made up of Michael Leasure (guitar, music direction); David Pruyn (drums); David Keller (bass); and Christian Tamburr (vibraphone, marimba, keyboard, percussion). Tamburr is a 15-year old percussion whiz from Satellite Beach whose performance is stunning. Mickey's witty and stylish backup vocalists are Audrey McMahon, Kimberly Shader and Roneasha T. Bell. Their upbeat piece, "Three Girls Named Sue" is a rousing delight. Andrew admits to inspiration from 'Five Guys Named Moe" on this one. The women are all splendid singers. Each has a star turn with a solo number, and each gets a piece of the action when Marvin Welk, head of the Jazz Police, tries to shut down the Bachelor Pad. Welk is played with great humor by Tom Whateley. R. Kevin Selfridge is the supreme nerd as the geeky computer-whiz sidekick Cosmo Kelp, who appears only on the video screen. The one negative thing about the opening-night performance was a sound system that sometimes muffles the voices. But even that couldn't suppress the sense of fun that filled the theatre. Mickey
Swingerhead audiences had better watch out. They simply won't be able
to stop themselves from snapping their fingers. Arrests may be imminent. |
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